GRiley904

Assuming they're always underground and and close to a water source. Would this be similar to a beach or more a well. Personally I think well, them being super smith, they could fashion a metal bucket that would resist rust and corrosion. Said bucket would float in the well and they could judge time by the slack in the rope or t the position of the crank. Their day would be souly dependent on the moon. Two cycles per day or they have really short days.

next time he can skip the possible damage to his anvil it just hit himself directly in the face

Something comes to mind along the lines of equal and opposite reactions

Thank you Frosty

Well both are made from rr spikes and from what I hear most of those are low carbon and don't ready harden so I didn't bother heat treating. They're mostly for novelty and practice on my hammer stroke. In that pic the handle is not finished, after I buttoned the handle on there was a lil file work. I also gave that one away and I think he did some sanding after I was done if I can get another pic of it finished I will post it here. That was an old flip phone I had and the camera was not great, I have an android now and the pics come out much better now. Thanks for the kind words TheoRock, I always like complements. That was my first handle and I do plan to do more, but I want to take a step back from knives and focus on learning more, then I'll revisit this when I can produce s something of usable quality. Thanks again, Riley P. S. By file work I mean just getting the button smooth with the handle so mostly just touching that handle up.

The first knife "twisted spike knife" was my fourth project ever and the deer horn right after. That was the last knife I made as I felt like I jumped in a lil to deep. These were allot of fun making and really spurred the addiction for me.

Three or four hours and a can of wd-40 might revive that d drill. Focus on the teeth, keep them soaked and try to work the chuck open and closed, if it gives at all, it will give all the way. Wd_40 is chicken soup for a stuck chucks soul.

Was it broken or in a bind? I had one in a bind once, took it apart, and soaked the chuck in penetrating oil. Taking time to work it every 20 minutes or so and had it freed up in an afternoon.

You're absolutely right Kurgan, I didn't know you wanted them horizontal. I was just throwing it out there. Now that you mention it, the way you spoke of riveting the pieces together, it makes allot more sense.

All you need is a drill and a hammer.if you have access to it Tim Lively has a video called knife making unplugged in witch he uses this method to secure the handle to the knife. It's pretty simple.

Just a first thought from a novice who also doesn't know much but, you could drill the dish slightly smaller than the stock used for the feet, then gently taper your feet stock to fit through your dish and peen the protruding end inside the dish. It works like a button.

Well I had a long weekend with the holiday and was working on a fork so I decided to finish it up. As I'm getting set up an old friend of my dads walked by with his dog and saw what I was doing. He then explained that he had a rr track anvil with horn and invited me to come look for it. About an hour or so later he walked by again with a 2.5# cross pien hammer in tow. So I'm going down today to hopefully find a new to me anvil. Working in the driveway is a plus.

Here is a couple pics of my fork. It's not pretty, but like the steak turner it taught me allot. It's got hammer marks, hammers aren't dressed, and my channel locks scared up the end where the twist is. I was having trouble forging the tines but a break and a new approach fixed that. One tine is slightly longer than the other because I looked away for a moment and burnt the tip off. Truthfully I almost gave up and sent this one to the scrap pile but I'm glad I didn't. All I know for sure is I'm absolutely in love with the craft and will never stop persuading hot metal to do my bidding

Don't hope, know. This could save you allot of time in the E.R. The most important thing is to not hurt yourself and when your working something that hot safety is extremely important. Your goal in the heat treat process is to get the perfect mixture of hardness and toughness. Too hard and the edge chips out or the blade breaks possibly causing injury, too soft/tough and the edge rolls meaning that it won't hold an edge very well. Research the heat treat process and get your info from pros if you can. Learn the steps involved, like annealing normalizing hardening, and tempering. Remember an educated guess is far better that rushing in blind. I haven't actually heat treated a blade yet but I watched a video made by Tim Lively called knife making unplugged in witch he explained the process pretty well. If I were you I would definitely read the HT stickies before a second attempt. Happy forging and remember safety first, Riley

Now that I've finished that, the next project is to make a grill fork. There will be a bit more planning going into this one, steak turner just kinda happened. I'm doing this cause I'll probably get to use it first, a forge cooked brat sounds wonderful. The plan is to draw out a long taper like on the steak turner but leave the end a little wide so it can be slit for the prongs. Other than that everything else will be the same. I may try something more decorative with the handle, if that works out I might change the steak turner to match. If there is any advise on how to make the fork end that would be great, other wise it looks pretty straight up. I was thinking after I slit the end to open the prongs and upset to get rid of the v although a small one won't hurt my feelings, then taper the prongs before bending them into the finished fork. I've already consolidated a rr spike back to square, this time a bit closer to success with the weld. Pictures coming soon right here.

I use a section of railroad track as previously stated, it work well and was given to me by a friend. I hear a forklift tine is good as well.

The rust burns off in the fire. Dude, asking questions like these leads me to assume you've never actually gotten steel hot. Have you built a forge yet? Most of the people here won't talk to someone unless they do some research and show some initiative. My suggestion to you is read the forums, fill out your profile some more, location helps, maybe a couple books, and light a fire. Always wear personal protection!

I think that after you anneal the steel you will find that it's no longer rusty. As for using a camp fire, I don't think that would get hot enough.

Apply boiling water the heat helps to absorb the water you tube or google '' impossible nail in wood trick''

Thanks Frosty, haven't tried it out yet, but I will soon

So I finished my first steak turner. It's pretty simple, I drew out a long taper and bent the end, of coarse . The tricky part was consolidating the head. I attempted to weld to get rid of the grooves and failed on 2 sides. Put a twist in the handle and I'm calling it done. It's far from a master piece but I learned allot. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are smithing skills so I will keep at it and keep the pictures coming. Any and all advise and or comments are appreciated

Congrats sam beautiful blade

My anvil sings for me

I was in a similar situation recently, not related to black smithing. My best friend slash boss also happens to be an intolerable bully. Most times I laugh him off, but then sometimes he makes remarks that I can't just blow off.last week he literally begged me to hit him and came with his worst trash talk. I stood up gave him three chances to recant each time with him calling me something more vulgar than a wussy and stating that I was too scared to hit him. He was wrong. I hit him twice, the first punch taking him clean out of his chair, before he broke a beer bottle over my head, yes he said I was the wuss, I bled and got angry. I beat him until I was pulled off. I put up with his abuse for over a year out of respect and friendship, witch was not returned until last week, as less than an hour later we hugged and made up and he assured me that he would never disrespect me like that again. I never missed a day of work and his eye is still black. Having said all that, I do not condone fighting unless absolutely necessary, in this case it wasfor me. these are decisions you have to make on your own. I believe patience will take you a lot further than blasting someone across the face with your mean right cross, but sometimes that right cross is necessary and if it earns your vacation I'd say it's a double win

Don't put to little value on the small stuff gravel concrete and nails could easily run a couple hundred more. It looks like a great smithy, I hope it's everything you're looking for. good luck during the build